


adamant: an Old Yeller story. by mod flattened objectified Jaeger.

by darktsunayoshi001827



Category: Old Yeller
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dogs, Drama, Family, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Golden Retriever, Guns, Human, Human Person, Hurt, I Hate Arliss Coates, Katana, Lances, Laser beams, Lasers, Man's Best Friend - Freeform, Near Death Experiences, Old Yeller Lives, Swords, human being - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:46:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26892397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darktsunayoshi001827/pseuds/darktsunayoshi001827
Summary: Something bounced off the back of Old Yeller’s head.
Relationships: Old Yeller & Travis Coates
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	adamant: an Old Yeller story. by mod flattened objectified Jaeger.

_BANG!_

_Thunk._

Something bounced off the back of Old Yeller’s head.

The dog paused, laser eye glinting under the moonlight.

“What was that?” he asked, voice coming out scratchy and garbled due to the rabies foam that was constantly dripping out of his mouth, and the katana he held between his jaws. “Did you throw a rock at me, Travis?”

As Old Yeller was a dog, his words were completely lost to Travis, who only heard the mad ravings of a rabid animal.

Old Yeller’s gums itched. He wanted to bite something. Preferably a bear…

“Travis?” he asked, again, turning around, only to see something extremely shocking.

Travis, his owner, the one who had taken him in and cared for him, had a gun pressed to his shoulder, still smoking from being freshly fired. And now that Old Yeller was paying more attention to his surroundings, he could see that there was buckshot scattered across the ground, at his and Travis’ feet.

This could only mean…

“You . . . how could you?” Old Yeller asked. “I thought we were friends! _Friends,_ Travis, and you—you shot me!”

Old Yeller’s instinct was to take revenge. Cruel, swift revenge.

As the first natural born cyborg and the first samurai, Old Yeller possessed an innate bloodlust that demanded to be satiated at every moment. Generally, killing a few bears or wolves helped with that, but right now, Old Yeller felt… _rage._

However, that anger, that vitriol, was lost when he saw the broken look on Travis’ face. The utter devastation which could only have come from the pain of having to kill one’s own pet.

It was lucky that Old Yeller had been born with a metal plate in the back of his head. If he had been even slightly weaker, even slightly less perfect, he would have instantly perished upon being shot.

His loyalty won out over his programming. Old Yeller’s tail began to wag, a slow, steady thump against the dusty, dry ground.

Travis dropped the gun. It clattered to the floor, double barrel glinting under the moonlight.

“Old Yeller… How…” Travis trailed off, disbelieving look on his face. Old Yeller took a step closer, careful not to pull on the strings attached to his paws that would cause the two guns strapped to his back to fire. He did not want to kill Travis. Not anymore, at least. “I thought you were gonna…”

“The likes of you could never harm me,” Old Yeller reassured, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart when Travis appeared to only hear frenzied barking. Old Yeller’s beloved owner scrambled backwards, wary of being bitted but wanting to hope for the best. “As long as I’m here… I’ll protect the family. Ain’t nothing going to stop me.”

Every single word of it was true, too—although, truth be told, he hadn’t originally started protecting this family out of a sense of loyalty.

At first? At first… it had been for the bears.

Endless amounts of bloodshed, all provided by this family who seemed so prone to attracting trouble. The best part of it all was that it wasn’t even _just_ bears. There was variety, enrichment! Wolves, wild hogs, thieves, sentient plant matter, jaguars, criminals, mountain lions, even the monstrosity that can only be named as “mango.”

Old Yeller has killed them all. And he will do it again. And again.

But over the weeks, months, or days, or years, depending on which one was applicable, Old Yeller had come to genuinely like this family. Except Arliss—Old Yeller had attempted to kill him many times, each attempt ultimately fruitless.

One day he would succeed. Of this, he had no doubt.

But for now…

“It’s okay, Travis,” Old Yeller said, advancing once again—and careful, ever careful, for the twin lances strapped to his back would surely kill Travis—that is, if not for Old Yeller’s expert maneuvers. And that wasn’t even mentioning the katana, which would have sliced Travis clean in two had Old Yeller been even a little clumsier. But again, Old Yeller was an old hand at this. He was a seasoned veteran in the ways of both bloodshed, and pacifism, although he wouldn’t be afraid to admit that he hated pacifism, thinking it only for the weak. “I’m okay. Let’s head back to the others, yeah?”

Travis, understanding none of what Old Yeller just said, nodded out of fear.

Old Yeller immediately misunderstood, thinking that the nod was in agreement. That this nod, that was so frantic it could have even been mistaken for a violent shake from side to side, stemmed from the trust they had between them.

The trust that Old Yeller, although completely rabid, so far gone in the clutches of his illness, would never, _ever_ hurt him, or any of the other family, except for Arliss.

The bond between him and Travis was of steel, of diamond—no, of adamant. It was unbreakable and unwaveringly resilient, just like the piece of metal on the back of Old Yeller’s skull.

Old Yeller stepped back, pleased.

Then, the two of them walked the five or so paces it took to reunite with the rest of his family.

_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> 


End file.
